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Comment Re:Irony (Score 1) 86

ETAs are so helpful. When this first started yesterday morning, I assumed maybe a couple of hours of downtime - AT MOST. Now we're nearly 30 hours in, with no ETA, and my builds for alternative systems started hours behind. Learning experience for me I guess.

Graphics

Wolfenstein Gets Ray Traced 184

An anonymous reader writes "After showcasing Quake Wars: Ray Traced a few years ago, Intel is now showing their latest graphics research project using Wolfenstein game content. The new and cool special effects are actually displayed on a laptop using a cloud-based gaming approach with servers that have an Intel Knights Ferry card (many-core) inside. Their blog post has a video and screenshots."
Math

First Self-Replicating Creature Spawned In Conway's Game of Life 241

Calopteryx writes "New Scientist has a story on a self-replicating entity which inhabits the mathematical universe known as the Game of Life. 'Dubbed Gemini, [Andrew Wade's] creature is made of two sets of identical structures, which sit at either end of the instruction tape. Each is a fraction of the size of the tape's length but, made up of two constructor arms and one "destructor," play a key role. Gemini's initial state contains three of these structures, plus a fourth that is incomplete. As the simulation progresses the incomplete structure begins to grow, while the structure at the start of the tape is demolished. The original Gemini continues to disassemble as the new one emerges, until after nearly 34 million generations, new life is born.'"
PlayStation (Games)

US Air Force To Suffer From PS3 Update 349

tlhIngan writes "The US Air Force, having purchased PS3s for supercomputing research, is now the latest victim of Sony's removal of the Install Other OS feature. It turns out that while their PS3s don't need the firmware update, it will be impossible to replace PS3s that fail. PS3s with the Other OS feature are no longer produced since the Slim was introduced, so replacements will have to come from the existing stock of used PS3s. However, as most gamers have probably updated their PS3s, that used stock is no longer suitable for the USAF's research. In addition, smaller educational clusters using PS3s will share the same fate — unable to replace machines that die in their clusters." In related news, Sony has been hit with two more lawsuits over this issue.
Image

How Nintendo's Mario Got His Name 103

harrymcc writes "In 1981, tiny Nintendo of America was getting ready to release Donkey Kong. When the company's landlord, Mario Segale, demanded back rent, Nintendo staffers named the game's barrel-jumping protagonist after him. Almost thirty years later, neither Nintendo — which continues to crank out Mario games — nor Segale — now a wealthy, secretive Washington State real estate developer — like to talk about how one of video games' iconic characters got his name and Italian heritage. Technologizer's Benj Edwards has researched the story for years and provides the most detailed account to date."

Comment Meru Networks does this - Wireless Backbone System (Score 1) 155

I haven't used this part of their products, but I am impressed with their wireless APs and controllers...especially for client density and VoIP.

Meru uses their radio switches and bonds multiple channels of wireless to create backbone trunks between APs. You end up with around 150Mbps full-duplex if you used 3 channels for the backbone...a bit better than 100-Base. These trunks are encrypted, and the wireless path between AP and controller are also encrypted. Keep in mind, this path is between APs and radio switches...not the actual wireless clients. Those are still a/b/g speeds.

They've had a few of their customers switch over entirely to a wireless LAN. The advantages are easy deployment for new installs or temporary installs. The disadvantages are sub-GigE speeds and typical concerns about security.

Here's the link for more info...http://www.merunetworks.com/news/press_rele ases/050106a.shtml

Comment thanks dave barry (Score 5, Funny) 669

After reading an article about how to make three foot flames with strawberry pop-tarts and a toaster, I went out and bought a cheap toaster at walmart for about 6 dollars.

After a few months, the toaster was still sitting new and in the box in my room - since I hadn't yet tried to replicate the pop-tart experiment. In fact, I'd entirely forgotten it. Then, one morning I was eating breakfast and my mother complained that our toaster had stopped working. I overheard the complaints and piped up: "hold on, I've got a new toaster in my room." My siblings and parents were a little surprised to hear this and didn't really believe me until I came up a few moments later with a brand new toaster still in the box. We plugged it in and it worked fine - in fact, we've used it ever since and haven't had a single problem with it.

At the time this situation was pretty amusing...my family spent quite some time trying to figure out why I happened to have a brand new toaster in my room.

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